This invention relates to apparatus for interconnecting integrated circuit components, and for connecting integrated circuits with outside circuitry.
Integrated circuit components are being designed and fabricated in continually smaller sizes, and with increased numbers of electrical leads or contacts provided for each component. Increasingly, such components are required to handle signals of high frequency, including those in the gigahertz range, and with waveforms having extremely rapid rise times measured in picoseconds. To some extent, the size of contacts can be reduced along with the size of the IC chip, chip carrier, or other package. Contacts designed using this approach can be unduly fragile and contact size relative to package size must necessarily increase.
One result of the increased contact density is the need for more efficient removal of heat generated by transmission of signals in and through the IC component. An approach to this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,405 to Haltmark et al granted Oct. 8, 1985, in which a honeycomb-shaped cooling fin structure 26 is mounted on a series of thermally conductive pins 20 extended from a semiconductor package. Mounted on the opposite side of the package are I/O pins 16 for conducting signals into and out of the package.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,621 to Currier granted Sept. 3, 1985 shows an integrated circuit carrier for protecting pins 30 by mounting them in recessed fashion in carrier channels of an insulative carrier member 13.
A challenge increasingly faced as IC packages become smaller and have more densely arranged contacts for handling signals with more rapied waveforms, is the need to carefully control the impedance at individual contacts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,578 to O'Schusky et al granted Aug. 19, 1980, shows an enclosure surrounding an electronic component to provide RF shielding for the component. Such an approach is less than satisfactory for reduced sized, densely packed IC packages, in which cross-talk between neighboring contacts is a significant problem.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for connecting integrated circuit components and for maintaining a constant, controlled impedance at the individual contacts of the components.
Another object of the invention is to provide a device which assists in connecting integrated circuit components with outside circuitry while protecting individual contacts against damage.
A further object of the invention is to provide a means for removing heat generated by transmission of signals in and through an IC component.
Yet another object of the invention is to shield individual contacts of an IC component from signals generated at adjacent contacts of the component.